Opening the Wooden Cell Door
by Hotwire the Mechanic
Summary: Sakura is put into a prison for killing Tsunade. Why? It will all be explained in later chapters. But the question you should be thinking about is: Will she live to see another day? Edited a little in chapter 1.
1. Til Death

AC: No, I do not own anyone or anything on Naruto… I don't own the show either. (sigh) I wish I did though… Who knows what I would do with them. (evil laugh)

Sakura's POV

'_Nothing could have changes the events that happened that afternoon.'_ Sakura thought as she waited in her cell. A silent tear slid down her cheek as the new dawn light came through the bars and hit her face, making the drop of liquid sparkle. The wooden door, which she could have easily broken down, stood still and silent. As did the anbu on guard. The anbu… her most closest friends. Ino… Naruto… Kakashi… and a few she didn't entirely know too well but were still very trustworthy. Shikamaru… Lee… and Neji. All of them outside of her cell, all of them keeping her in until she had to face her death.

Sakura could not weep. She could not cry, not even one peep to show sadness. Not with them there, staying so silent that she could here the keys unlock the door outside her own. She couldn't see her friends. She couldn't see her family. This was going to be the last morning for her to see the raise of the sun. The only time, the last. Sakura turned her eyes to the cell window, blocked by the cold steel bars to keep her from escaping. The sunrise was tinted with both red and gold. The clouds moved the colors in mysterious ways to enhance its beauty.

Sakura heard the footsteps coming closer to her wooden cell door. She heard the shuffling of her friends' feet as they moved to let the person by. The key went into the lock and let out a shrill noise as it turned to open the wooden cell door. A person, masked and dark, put shackles on her wrists and took her out of the cell. She passed her friends and let a few tears fall. Because of the silence her friends had created, a few 'pilts' reached their ears, as well as four quiet, simple, words, and then she left thinking she was going to die alone.

Naruto's POV

He waited in silence for dawn to come as he waited by the cell that Sakura was being held in. An aching pain stayed in his chest as he couldn't think of how any more but why. _'Sakura, why? Of all the things you could've done, why? You're stuck behind this fucking door. I can't help you now. I'm sorry, Sakura.' _He thought. He shared a knowing glance with his friends. Her friends. _'Our friends' _he thought. _'Of all the people you could have chose, why did you choose him? Why did you help him? It's against the law and is strictly death in this village to help a class A rogue ninja. Why did you help him? The Hokage, why did you kill her? Why?' _he thought as he closed his eyes. He couldn't look at anyone anymore.

Only minutes passed when he heard the sound of the first door opening, along with the sound of footsteps. _'I never thought it would end this way, Sakura. There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry.' _He thought as he opened his eyes. The man in the mask all dressed in dark turned the key in the cell door.. He went in and two came out, one the dark and one the light. His eyes fallowed the pink haired kunoichi, he saw the tears fall from her eyes. The ache in his chest intensified as she walked by. His heart began to pound in his ears but that didn't stop him from hearing what Sakura said. _'I'm sorry, Naruto…'_ It repeated in his head as he watched her leave the first door and the rest of the anbu fallowed her. _'Sakura? Sorry?' _His eyes widened just the slightest bit as a thought came to mind. _'She.. She's _innocent!_' _He looked up at her back with determination shining brightly in his eyes. _'There is something I can do. Don't worry, Sakura. I'll save you.' _He thought as he walked out of the prison and into the blinding light outside.

AC: Sorry it was short everyone! But hey, I wanted to leave you at a small cliffy. (smile) See you in the next chapter! Oh.. If anyone knows what the main symbol of the story is then I'll give them a cookie. And if they figure out what it means then I'll insert a character if they want into the story at some time! (smile) Good luck!


	2. ALL MUST READ IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE

AC: Okay. Not everyone understood what I meant by the main symbol and crap. It's not 'what is Naruto thinking' or things like that. Just to make things clear. No, I'm not trying to sound mean and such. Just trying to straighten things out. So, I'll help you out a little anyways. The main symbol of the story is the wooden cell door. Just like the chapter. Anyone have any ideas what that wooden cell door could mean? Apparently none of you will also figure this out until I get a few more chapters up or the next chapter. If no one figures it out then I'll give another clue in about a few weeks or whenever I get another chapter up, k?

If you don't want other people to read what you think it is then email me at my yahoo account that's on my profile and put 'I got it!' in the subject box or something like that. Once again, if you get it right or extremely close that I'll give you credit then you can have a character that the Naruto characters will find later on in the story or in a new one. Up to you. I'll send you a bio page for your character. (smile) See you soon!


	3. Flames

AC: Hey! Back from a long.. thing. I'm not even going to bother with an excuse because you won't care. However, I will say this… THERE'S A POLL!!

Amiko: (bow) Naruto and Naruto characters do not belong to AC. Don't sue her for anything you wouldn't want to be sued for. As for that, happy reading.

AC: Are you giving them the intention they can sue me?

Amiko: ….. Read!

Normal POV

Sakura blinked to adjust to the light of day in order to look at her surroundings. Konoha citizens and ninjas alike were standing around an area, fenced out for the prisoner, her, sake of safety. Not that it really mattered to Sakura. She was bound to be dead soon enough.

Sakura looked out to the crowd, catching the angered faced of those she considered comrades and the saddened faces of her parents. Once again the familiar pain of guilt stung at her chest. She tore her eyes away from the faces, looking somewhere else aside from them, ahead to the object that held her fate.

In the middle of the area was a stake mounted on a wooden platform. ((AN: Much like the Salem Witch Trials Era)) A light perspiration formed on her forehead as she was forced along by the shinobi. Naruto felt a knot tighten in his throat at seeing Sakura's discomfort as Neji brought her up to the spike and tied her to it, standing close by in case she were to attempt to escape when he was finished.

At this point Sakura's body had begun to tremble. Especially when her eyes landed on familiar jade ones, not of the Leaf villages. Gaara walked up to her, in his kazekage robes much to her confusion.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Suna?" Sakura asked, attempting to hide the fear in her voice. She still hadn't gotten over the time that the Sand Shinobi had nearly killed her in the attempted attack on Konoha.

Gaara looked unemotionally into her eyes, already noticing her fear even against her attempts to hide it.

"I am bound to the alliance your fifth Hokage and I had created. Now that she is dead, I have to manage over the village until another Hokage is presented." Gaara explained dully, as if it were a normal day occurrence.

"Until that time I must tend to the village and dispose of people, such as yourself, properly."

Sakura tensed slightly. She knew the ways were different in Suna compared to Konoha. And, unfortunate for her, she knew how they dealed with criminals. She watched as dried sticks and hay were thrown at her feet. Just as she thought. People in Suna had adjusted to the heat to where it was bearable, but add more heat and they couldn't stand too much. And anything such as a fire, it would be a terrible death to say at least.

Sakura wiggled against the ropes, already imagining her death coming closer. Her nails began to dig into her bonds as she attempted to tear them off. A chuunin came in carrying a torch. She could already feel her body begin to tremble as she focused on the flame. Gaara continued to watch, a small smirk playing at his lips in anticipation as the chuunin lay the torch onto the dry material, quickly catching fire. Sakura let out a small panicked yell as the flames began to grow towards her…

…And in the corner of her eye… A shinobi vanished from her sight…

AC: Well… It's shorter… Dang. A POLL!! What should the pairing be with Sakura?!?!

Naruto

Shikamaru

Gaara

Sasuke

Kakashi

Neji

Lee

Any one else you can think of. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF IT'S FREAKING JIRAYA!!

Just choose and have fun….. AND NO SUING!


	4. Familiar Faces

AC: Oh, hey. This chappy came out REALLY fast! The next day after the last! That's an achievement! Oh and the poll is still going on and it's most likely going to be a Naruto Sakura fanfic. Congrats! And I do have one major announcement at the bottom of the page so be happy!

Announcer is dead now but you all know what he was going to say.

STORY!!

The heat of the flames licked at Sakura's skin as the fire came closer. Her eyes began to swell with tears, not only because of the heat that was making her eyes dry but also because of the thought of loosing her life.

Never again to see her loved ones, never again to enjoy the moments training with her squad, never to admit or speak of anything that she had done wrong… Never again to make anything right. Everything was going to be lost to her once and for all this time and she couldn't do anything about it.

She closed her eyes as the flames touched her foot, grazing across her skin to remind her that she was still alive and that she was still in the presence of friends and kin. She continued to remain as calm as she could, not wishing that anyone would see her in a moment of weakness. All the while inside her, her inner Sakura screamed. The flames hiked higher onto her body just waiting for the fabrics of her clothes to catch so that her death would be less avoidable..

At that moment, Sakura could feel the bonds on her arms loosen and be replaced by an object wrapping around her waist. She was quickly yanked away from the stake by a force unknown to her. Curiosity forced her to open her eyes to see that the object around her was an arm.

A voice called out to her from the crowd as well as screams as her emerald eyes looked to the group of anbu, landing on Naruto's surprised ones, leaving her confused as well as she looked up to her captor, only to see smoke. Confusion was all that was on her face as she was lifted from the ground in a tight grasp as the person leapt from the stake.

Naruto continued to stare at the being in disbelief for a moment as the figure began to bound away from the area.

"No… He's…. He's dead… I saw it with my own eyes..." He said to himself before reality managed to slap him in the face. Even if he was alive, he was getting away with Sakura. A growl erupted in his throat as he quickly took off after the supposedly dead person, intent on getting the woman he loved from the mans grasp.

Sakura gasped as the being quickly leapt over the gate and into the forest with complete ease. The anbu were already out of sight with him just barely being in the village. Sakura's head was pressed against the person's chest from the force of the speed but she still managed to look up to at least see who her captor was.

A glimpse of black hair was all she could see at the moment. Everything else was a blur as her eyes continued to adjust from being in the smoke. The man looked down at her for just a moment as her vision began to clear. Sakura's eyes widened as she looked into the familiar eyes. The eyes that had haunted her childhood past with pleasurable thoughts and her presence with grief. The familiar red eyes of her old comrade. And with a single word she passed out from the smoke in her lungs, both fear and anger harbored in her heart.

"….Sasuke…"

AC: As for the announcement! FOREST! You have one the contest on chapter 1!! Yippee! Now, if you give me your Email, I'll give you the Bio sheet I'll need for your character, K? And You'll also have to prove to me that you are indeed Forest because You didn't really put an email address or account name on here… Best of luck! Chapter 3 should be coming out soon!


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